Europe gets its natural gas from Russia. Russia plays politics with the gas. Europe would like an alternate supplier. Those supplies would have to come through Syria from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to make the cost of the pipe line low enough.
Russia’s pal Assad is against that. Because it would weaken his pal Russia.
Iran may be let in on the Russian pipeline planned through Syria in exchange for help in the war. And Iran has geostrategic things in mind too.
There are of course way more complications. But I think that is the main driver.
Here is a map of the expected pipeline.
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One response to “So What The H Is Going On?”
Between fracking and natural gas exports from the US you’d think the need for a pipeline has become much less pressing. If we had anything that resembled a grand strategy we’d be pumping and shipping as much oil and gas as possible. Keeping it plentiful and cheap enough cuts the legs out from under the Saudis, Russians and Venezuelans. And let the middle east stew in it’s own juices.